KC ~ Chronicle 04, "Mind Your Stone Business! Part 3"
“''Jirachi''?” The Gardevoir questioned, hot on the heels of the Gallade. The leading Pokémon did not seem to have stopping on his mind, as he continued to sprint towards his goal. Cordelia looked over her shoulder at Nightfall and Karo, rolling her eyes, “He’s talking about the mythical Pokémon?” In response, the Bisharp shrugged his shoulders with a fanged grin, “You get used to his crazy assumptions at some point!” He chuckled, before Karo chimed in, with sparkling eyes and an eager tone. “Whoaaa! You mean the Jirachi that grants any wish? My dads used to tell me that all the good kids would get three of them!” “Precisely!” The Gallade skidded to a stop, where the sandy ground faded into a warm red color. “Err, the bit about the wishes. I don’t know about the good kids.” Karo gave a disappointed sigh as a rebuttal. Daybreak knelt over and picked up an amber grain of sand, feeling it in his fingers. “Red sand. It’s a sign of Limelight Labyrinth.” He stood up, where his eyes met with a large, mountainous maze ahead of him. The group caught up, and Nightfall placed Karo back onto the ground. With a snarky smile, he looked at Daybreak and pointed to the maze. “Y’don’t say.” The group chuckled as the white face of the Blade Pokémon was tinged with a light pink. “A-Anyhow, we should get inside–Assure that we’re not being followed.” All four of the adventurers stepped foot inside, looking onward to the red rocks ahead. For as far as they could see, the walls were smooth, scarlet, and numerous. There were various different passageways and paths that they could go down, but they remained on the direction ahead of them. As they got deeper and deeper into the cave, the hue of everything around them was a fiery red. “Gosh, you’d think they’d call it…Redstone Roundabout or something.” The backpacked-Ditto joked, walking alongside Nightfall. The Bisharp nodded with a chuckle, “Or like–Maroon Maze.” The two jokesters joined in a laugh as the Psychic-types in front of them held a stoic front. “Are you quite sure we’re heading in the right direction?” The Gardevoir asked, eying the area around her. In response, Daybreak nodded, looking rather tranquil. “If we get lost, we can just head right back from where we came from.” To that, Cordelia was taken aback. She paused in place, raising a finger, “That’s–Reassuring, to say the least.” The squadron continued for quite a while, that is, until a strange noise coming from behind them caught the Ditto’s attention. “What was that?” Karo asked, looking back. The group hadn’t taken much notice of it before, but they stopped to see what had concerned the little Pokémon. “Did you guys hear that? It sounded like ‘dididididididididi…’” The Pokémon all exchanged confused looks, and responded in unison with a no. The smallest let out a “Huh.” as he squinted his eyes and surveyed the area. His eyes lit up when he took notice of a Diglett that had been following them. “Oh!” Karo interrupted himself with a laugh, “It was just a Diglett! Hi there!” He waved a stubby hand at the ground-dwelling Pokémon, who nodded in response. “Uh, bucko, we don’t exactly got the time to be making nice with the natives.” Nightfall reprimanded, placing his hands on his hips. Cordelia crossed her arms and gave a shrug, “Perhaps it’s lost? I mean, there’s not many reasons for a lone Pokémon to follow a group.” The latter comment must’ve given Karo an idea, as he gave a loud gasp and started to bounce up and down, “It wants to take us to Jirachi!” He babbled. The group was dumbfounded as their piercing glares locked onto Karo. With a smug expression, the little purple ‘mon snickered and sneered, “I know, I’m a genius. I get that a lot!” He turned his attention back to the Diglett, and pointed beyond it. “Lead the way, friendo!” After a pause, the Diglett dug its way back to a cavern to the right of the group, as Karo took the form of the Ground-type and followed after it. Karo’s companions merely stood in place, waiting for approximately three and a half minutes before the Ditto ran back in his true form panting. In between breaths, he exclaimed, “Guys! You’ll never believe this! I just had the adventure of a lifetime! Take a seat, you will not—“ Before he could continue, Daybreak picked him up, placing him under his arm, and started walking forward. The other two travelers followed them. As the night drew forward, the cave got darker and darker, until the weary travelers were driven to the brink of exhaustion. They neared a wider clearing in the cave, in which the Gallade plopped onto the ground, kneeling down and closing his eyes. He dropped the Ditto in the process, who tumbled onto the ground face first. He said something in a muffled voice, before Nightfall set him upright and dusted him off. “That means that we’re calling it a night.” Cordelia tilted her head, straightening her flowing dress and kneeling down, “Break time? Oh, goodie. I could use a few winks before we continue.” She let out a relieved sigh. Nightfall sat criss-cross in front of her, glancing over at Daybreak. “Hoo, I hope he knows where we’re going. This is starting to feel pointless.” He moped. “I know exactly where we’re going.” The seemingly meditative Gallade responded, “I’ve received word on high that it is time to rest, however.” Nightfall blew a raspberry, falling onto his back, “I’ll take it, then.” He propped up his head with his arms, closing his eyes. “Night all!” After a pause, he uttered, “Or should I saw Nightfall?” No one seemed to find his joke funny, so they just allowed the silence to sink in. Karo placed his bag under his head, lying down, and Cordelia propped herself up against the cavern walls and shut her eyes. After the pause, the Bisharp uttered, “Tough crowd.” In the middle of the night, Karo woke up, staring straight above him. “Gooosh! I can’t even sleep.” He then covered his mouth, looking at the sleepy group around him. In a hushed whisper, he continued his monologue. “Maybe I should kick it down a notch. A-Anywho, sleeping on the ground is the pits! I wish I had a nice, comfy bed to stand on.” He sighed, closing his eyes once again. “Do you really mean that?” An unfamiliar voice sung out. Karo’s eye brows furrowed with confusion as he opened his eyes, seeing a hovering Pokémon with an elaborate headpiece fluttering over him. Ribbons streamed from the top of its head and off of its lower back, and it gave a tilt of its head when Karo investigated it. The Ditto made a double take before jumping up, whispering the loudest scream you could imagine. In response, the mystery Pokémon whisper-screamed, too. In between yelps, Karo questioned, “Why are you quiet-yelling?” And the Pokémon confessed, “Because you are!” The two stopped abruptly, and then Karo squinted his eyes, taking a closer look at the stranger. “Wait a sec!” He rang, “You’re Jirachi!” At the mention of the name, all of the other adventures shot up, turning their attention to the two. The Jirachi looked around at the newfound attention that it had drawn. “Actually, my name is Charity.” It paused, looking to the side and muttering to itself, “Honestly, where’s my ‘Hi, what’s your name?’” It turned its attention back to Karo with a smile, “But yes, I came because you had a wish, right? What was it again?” Karo licked his lips with a sparkle of his eyes, “I WISH FOR B–“ His mouth was covered by the hand of Cordelia, who gave a nervous chuckle as she tilted her head in Daybreak’s direction. Daybreak nodded as he rushed over, reaching into Karo’s bag. “Well, you see, our dear friend here was hoping that you could seal away this stone for us?” He presented the colorful rock to the Jirachi, who tilted its head in all directions to investigate it. “Prettyyy! Why do you want to hide it?” Charity did not seem to understand its importance, but Nightfall seemed to take advantage of that. He leaned forward, holding up a finger to butt in, “Because it’s really pretty, and tons of people want to take it from us!” “No!” The Jirachi shouted. “Yes!” Nightfall responded, taking the stone and placing it into Charity’s small hands. “We wish for you to take very good care of it, alright?” He hurriedly made his next request, “And we wish for infinite wishes.” Daybreak bonked his cohort on the back of the head, before correcting him. “We just wish for you to send the stone to a far away place where it can be kept safe. Understand?” The Wish Pokémon nodded in response, holding the stone into the air, before it glimmered with a bright light that illuminated the cave. Where the shine was, there was now a rift in the very dimension, which the Jirachi hoisted its hands into. “''Viola!'' And now your stone is–“ Just before Charity could finish the sentence, the rift flashed, now blinding the group with a white flare. After the quick flash and recovery of vision, the group frantically blinked, looking around. “What just happened?” Cordelia asked, looking at Daybreak. The Gallade shrugged, and that’s when they turned their attention to Charity, who was lying on the ground. The stone was nowhere to be seen, but in its stead, there was a large…Creature on top of the Jirachi. A muffled voice under it said, “Uhyuh.” Charity lifted it off of itself using its Psychic attack, and placed it to the side. “I forgot to mention the rules of the universe!” It continued, presenting the red creature in front of the group. The creature pulled itself to its feet, clutching its elliptical head with a burly hand. Its broad biceps flexed gloriously as it rubbed the seemingly irritated cranium. The group was awestruck, waiting for the rules of the universe, as told by Charity. “Y-Yes, so, uhm, to trade stuff in between dimensions, we had to receive something willingly passed to ours in return! I present to you – a Buzzwole!...Surprise!” The Ultra Beast towered over the group, with its massive strength visuably coursing through its glistening muscles. Karo’s eyes were drawn to the creature, as he muttered, “Dibs.” “A Pokémon?” Nightfall asked, forcibly moving his glare from the swollen creature to that of the granter of wishes. Charity nodded, tapping its fingers together nervously. “That is correct, yes.” Night paused again, before continuing, “From another dimension?” It nodded frantically, giving a skittish smile. Nightfall poked out his lip at Daybreak, pointing at Karo, “Well, he called dibs. I say ‘All’s well that ends well!’” He started to march out of the cave, before Cordelia grabbed his shoulder. “Wait just a moment.” She pulled the two more mature members of the group to the side. While Karo basked at the newfound creature in amazement. “H-Hello!” He said, beaming with a smile and looking up at the interdimensional guest. The creature tilted its head for a moment, before clenching its fists and raising its arms, showing off pulsating biceps. Karo’s jaw drop as he slowly turned his attention to Charity, “What’s he doing?” “Oh, he’s probably saying hello! That’s the main language of the civilization of Buzzwole from his dimension. Their constant flexing is a form of communicating!” The mythical Pokémon clarified. “Or – maybe he’s just showing off.” Karo could not fathom the thought of a planet of constantly flexing bugs, but he turned his attention back to the other worldly guest with a grin. Cordelia huddled up with the duo of Daybreak and Nightfall, and in a soft voice, she questioned the process. “Are we quite sure it’s a good idea to do this? I mean, this is the first I’ve ever heard of a wish with a catch.” The Gallade nodded, glancing over at the otherworldly guest. “That is true, however, our dear Karo does seem to be enjoying himself.” He stated. Nightfall covered his chuckle with his hand as he took a peek at the interaction for himself. “Maybe it’s a wish come true for all of us!” The Gardevoir slumped over with a huff as she lowered her voice, “I’m serious! We don’t know what this thing is capable of.” She composed her posture and held her arm with her opposing hand. Looking back at the two, she did notice that, somehow, Karo was dancing around the flaunting Buzzwole in the form of a Spewpa, chanting “Bugbros! Bugbros! Bugbros! Bugbros!” “We should at least keep an eye out on him if anything.” She admitted. Daybreak nodded, looking at the behemoth of a bug-type, “Agreed.” She spun around to respond to her branch-evo-companion, “Oh, no, I meant Karo. We should keep an eye out on him.” Daybreak mumbled an, “Ohh,” “Agreed.” . . . And so, the stone was sealed away in a dimension of flexing bugs. They didn’t seem to mind the new treasure, except for a form of jewelry which started a war among brethren. That is a story for another time, however. Nonetheless, Daybreak and Nightfall thanked Karo and Cordelia for their assistance in restoring the artifact, and promised to keep in touch. Daybreak even requested that Cordelia drop by and go on another mission with the two sometime in the future, to which, she said that she would consider. Cordelia then went back on her way, saying her own goodbyes and reporting back to her exploration agency. The story ended quite nicely for Karo, as he had made more new friends, and even had the opportunity to bring one home with him. The two started the process of building a home for the Buzzwole in Evergreen Village, right on the path to Karo’s house. The construction didn’t take very long either, since the Buzzwole, of course, was a seven foot tall, multi-legged bodybuilder with wings. Karo had even given the Buzzwole a nickname, Macro, and was slowly educating him on how to speak and act like a normal Pokémon. He thoroughly enjoyed the process, and promised to keep in close contact with Karo, of whom he had grown strong feelings for. The Ditto was more than happy of his cooperation, and would hope that the two would be even closer one day in the near future. However, he did tell Macro that “Hello, Karo” and “Goodbye, Karo” was to always be punctuated with a flex from both arms. Category:The Karo Chronicles Category:Story